Chapter Twelve

My thoughts were uncertain as our rescue mission got underway. I had never expected to return to the X-Men's mansion. That was a part of my past, a relic from the life I had once led, and it had never occurred to me that I might go back there one day. I had never given any thought to the implications, but that was where my mind found itself now. How would it feel to go back there, to walk the grounds, and the corridors of the school – and the underground base? That would be where they were holding Pyro. The last time I had been down there, I had been running away from the X-Men. They had tried to restrain me, tried to stop me from rescuing mutants who were in danger, and I had seen them for what they really were. I had run and never come back.

Until now. At least none of the X-Men would be there, assuming Mystique's plan worked. She had left us an hour ago in her own transport – a small, single-seater aircraft – and we were only waiting for news that her 'distraction' had begun, before we set off. I sat alone on a small grassy verge outside the sanctuary, not far from the helicopter pad where the jet now sat, while the rest were getting ready. Cassandra was in our room, watching over the tiny mutant. She had been reluctant to leave the little girl on her own, but we weren't expecting to be gone too long, and the child was still asleep, showing no signs of waking up any time soon. The poor little thing had had a terrifying ordeal and a very tiring day, and it was no surprise that she was sleeping now.

I turned at the sound of footsteps behind me, and watched as Vertigo and Mole manhandled a crate up the landing ramp into the jet. I could guess what was in the crate. Explosives. Mole had insisted that we might need them to break Pyro out, or to cause a further distraction. Nobody had argued. There was a strong temptation to use them to destroy the X-Men's base, but we couldn't risk hurting the innocent mutant children at the school. But why couldn't we take the children back to the island with us? We could look after them and give them a far better future than the mutant-hating X-Men ever could. I had mentioned this to Vertigo, but he'd told me to ask Pyro about it when he got back.

There was something that was bothering me. It was the way that the X-Men – and Mystique – had spoken about Pyro. They'd talked about him almost as if he were still a child, as if he were just a kid trying to live up to his hero. Yet to us, he was a leader and our elder. I was unsure of my own feelings towards him. Obviously I respected him, but at the same time I wasn't as fond of him as, say, Gemini, to whom he was almost a father. Her devotion to him was certainly like that of a very proud daughter. I didn't think of Pyro as a father, or any kind of relative really. It was hard to describe. He was too senior and too aloof to be a friend, but at the same time he was too informal and too sarcastic for me to really think of him as a parent or teacher. The thing I respected most about him was probably the way he – it was hard to put into words – perhaps it was the way he always seemed to know exactly what to do. If we had a problem, or if we were in danger, we could turn to Pyro and he would have the solution.

Was that what we were doing now? We needed him – he was the one who always had the answers – and we were pulling him out so he could tell us what to do. If Pyro was around, we didn't have to think, we didn't have to try and work out what we should do next…we simply let him make the decisions, and then obeyed whatever orders he gave us. We didn't argue, we didn't question – Pyro was the leader, he always knew what to do, and we simply had to do it. He was the heart and soul of everything we did – he was the Brotherhood – the same words Mystique had used suddenly passed through my mind. Was it the same? Was he the visionary who would lead us to greatness? Was he the pioneer for a human-free world where mutants could live in peace and safety? Or was he, as Mystique seemed to think, merely a kid who was trying to live up to Magneto? I didn't know. I'd never known Magneto. I couldn't say. Maybe it was different – that didn't necessarily mean it was worse…

"Gladiator?"

My thoughts interrupted, I turned. Vertigo jerked his thumb towards the jet, "Let's go."

As I got up, I could see the rest were hurrying on board. The two of us ran to join them. We were the last on board, and I hit the switch to close the ramp as Vertigo sat in front of the controls.

"We just got word from Mystique," he said. "She's ready to move. That means we get ready to leave. Recyclo, put it on screen."

Recyclo pressed a switch, and a small video screen at the front of the cockpit flickered into life.

"I'll cycle through the frequencies until I find a station covering the event. Give me a moment," he said.

Vertigo hit the controls in front of him, and the jet lifted off from the ground, the main engines kicking in, and we were on our way. My mind was still clouded with uncertainty. After we got Pyro back, what were we going to do then? Would he have some idea of how to proceed? It was clear that we now had to avoid meeting the X-Men at all costs. With my sister Crusader on their side, they seemed invincible. I had faced her for the first time earlier in the day, and she had definitely come out on top. I'd had no idea she could move so fast. She had obviously learned martial arts and self-defence techniques from her teachers, but the sheer speed of her moves and reactions was terrifying. It was also inexplicable – none of her mutations granted her extra speed or agility. She shouldn't have been able to move that fast. I didn't understand it at all. I wasn't the only one who was worried about it; Gemini had asked Mystique the same question. I had overheard Mystique's answer: apparently any mutant with sufficient telepathic power could actually warp or suspend a 'bubble' of time around them. Was that what Crusader had done? Was that why she could move so fast? Could she actually slow down time around herself, to give herself more time to think and react? It would certainly explain her incredible fighting ability. Mystique said she'd never heard of anyone other than Xavier who was capable of doing it. Xavier…he was the old guy who had been leader of the X-Men…they'd called him 'the Professor'. He was dead now, like Magneto. Had he been a telepath? Did that explain why the X-Men followed their crazy delusions the way they did? Had he used his power to implant the delusions in their minds and make them believe in them? But why would any mutant hate his own kind so much? Pyro had never fully explained it to us.

It took Recyclo only a matter of minutes to connect to a TV news broadcast that was showing Mystique's distraction. We moved towards the cockpit to watch as the scene unfolded on the small screen. There was no sound, but clearly a news reporter and cameraman were standing as close as they dared to the action. A single figure could be seen, fighting against a group of humans, fighting with the quickest, deadliest display of martial arts I had ever seen. My breath caught in my throat as I saw just how fast Mystique could move. The camera zoomed in to show that the fighting figure was in fact Vertigo – or so the X-Men were meant to believe. If they were unaware that Mystique was still alive, then they would not suspect the truth. The group of humans had been no match for her, and the camera followed her as she – in Vertigo's form – moved off to find another target. She disappeared momentarily from view, and then reappeared – as Gemini.

Gemini gave a gasp as she saw herself – or what appeared to be herself – on screen, hurrying after a fleeing human, bringing it down with a scything kick to the back of the head.

"I don't believe it…" she gasped. "Even I would think that was me!"

Mystique was obviously planning this carefully, as she disappeared once again, only to reappear as Mole.

"Bloody hell – that's me," said Mole in amazement.

She didn't remain that way for long, and as we watched, Scarab, myself and Recyclo appeared in quick succession. Mystique killed two more humans, then Atlas and Cassandra made supposed appearances at the scene.

"That's all of us," I said. "If the X-Men fall for it, they'll have to go out there in full force in order to stop 'us'."

Mystique changed back into Vertigo's form, and seemed content to remain that way for the time being.

"Seems she likes being me," grinned Vertigo.

Gemini shook her head, "I bet she doesn't. You just happen to be the easiest one for her to fake. The rest of us have powers that Mystique can't imitate. Her mutation doesn't work that way. But she can pretend to be you easily enough – all she has to do is jump about a bit and make smart remarks."

"Oh, you're hurting me. Stop it. I thought you loved me, Gemini," he said sarcastically.

Gemini flushed slightly but said nothing. Vertigo returned his attention to his flying, and glanced at the radar, "OK, we'll be there soon. The X-Men should already be on their way, but I don't want to take any chances. I'll take a tiny detour just to make sure we don't wander too close and into their radar scope."

"It better be tiny," said Mole. "If we don't have enough to get Pyro and get out, we'll be in a whole lot of trouble."

"Hey – it's me."

We went on in silence until we reached our destination, and in the darkness below I could make out the estate. I'd only seen it once before from the air, and it was just as impressive a second time.

"It's beautiful," came a voice from somewhere behind me – Atlas.

"The mansion?"

"What? No – the estate. The trees, the flowers and the grasses…it's beautiful. Don't you think so?"

"Whatever, nature boy," Gemini said mockingly.

Atlas looked away unhappily, and I returned my attention to watching out of the view-port.

"Here," said Recyclo. "Touch down here. It's close to the mansion but far enough away that we won't be spotted."

"Gotcha."

The jet touched down, Vertigo killed the engine, and we disembarked. As I came down the landing ramp, Atlas was breathing in deeply, a contented smile crossing his face.

"Doesn't it smell wonderful?" he enthused.

"I can't smell anything," I said.

"The scent of the trees – the fresh air – don't you smell it?"

"Nope."

Atlas shrugged, then said, "I love being here. This sort of place, I mean. Just think, the whole world must have been like this once; nothing but natural beauty as far as the eye could see. Until the humans came along and destroyed and polluted it," he finished angrily.

Vertigo waved him to silence.

"All right, just before we go," our new leader said. "What with the trouble and the worries we've had over losing Pyro, some of you may have forgotten one very important fact. There's still a traitor among us. For all I know, it could be any of you. For all you know, it could be me. So let's all watch each other's backs and fronts and every other part while we're here in the den of the enemy, OK? This is just the opportunity our spy needs to hand us over to the X-Men. We'll split up into two groups of four. That way the spy will be outnumbered if he or she tries anything. Mole, Scarab, Atlas, Cassandra – you guys stay outside the mansion and keep watch, OK? If the X-Men get back unexpectedly early, you'll need to hold them off while we make a break to join you. The rest of us will go inside and try to find Pyro. Any questions?"

There were none.

"No? Good. I'm starting to get the hang of this leader thing, huh? OK, let's go."

Leaving the jet, we hurried through the night towards the mansion building. Glancing back, I couldn't even see the aircraft in the darkness. Well, it was jet black, aptly enough, and should hopefully remain undetected by anybody until it was time to leave. Not that there was anybody here we should worry about. Just a few kids, and they would be asleep. We reached the front doors of the mansion, and Vertigo cautiously edged them open. There was silence within, and he stepped inside.

"See you soon," I whispered to Cassandra, giving her a little kiss on her lips.

"Good luck," she whispered back.

Gemini and I hurried forward to follow Vertigo and Recyclo, who were already inside the building. When we got in, Vertigo turned to me and said, "OK, you know this place best. Where should we start looking?"

"Downstairs. In their secret headquarters. The elevator's this way."

I was surprised how well I remembered the layout of the mansion, as I led the other three in the direction of the lift. The interior of the building was dark and silent – with the X-Men gone, there should be nobody up and about. Vertigo's eyes carefully scanned every doorway or staircase we passed, in case any threat should appear from there. Recyclo glanced without interest into a few of the rooms we went past. Gemini, clearly nervous at the thought of intruding into the lair of the demons, was walking close to me; whether she was just seeking protection, or whether she wanted to be near me in particular, I didn't know. Wait a minute – what was that?

"Sshh – I heard something," I hissed, putting out a hand to stop Vertigo.

He listened, "I hear it."

The sound of footsteps was coming towards us, from around the corner to our left. We couldn't see who was there, and I looked around for somewhere we might hide. Before we could make any move, a figure appeared in the darkness from around the corner, and a blazing light filled the passageway.

"Who's there?" a voice demanded.

Raising a hand and screwing up my eyes against the light, I could just about make out the person who stood before us. I recognised him…it was one of the children who lived here…he had been my friend once. What was his name? Dominic. What about his mutant name? Oh yeah – Helios.

"Gary?" came his surprised voice.

Helios had one hand out, his left, and it was this hand that shone the blinding light into our eyes. As he realised it was me, he instinctively lowered his hand, and Vertigo sprang. He twisted, kicked Helios to the ground, and held him there, his knee in Helios' chest, his hand covering the other mutant's mouth. Helios struggled, but he hadn't the strength to dislodge Vertigo, and he looked up at me, his voice muffled into unintelligibility by the hand over his mouth.

"Let him talk," I said.

"He'll yell for help; he'll give us away!" Gemini protested.

I ignored her, "Vertigo, let him talk."

Vertigo shrugged and pulled his hand away. Helios cried, "Gary, what the hell is going on? Who are these people?"

"These people are my friends, and the last hope of mutantkind," I said. "Where's Pyro?"

"Huh?"

"You know who I'm talking about!"

He shook his head, "Honest, I don't know what you mean!"

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. He sounded as if he was telling the truth – but if Pyro had been brought here, surely Helios would have seen something? Or at least heard it from one of the other kids who had? Unless – what if the X-Men hadn't brought Pyro here at all? What if they had just killed him on the spot and left his body where he had fallen? It wouldn't have surprised me – it would have fitted in with everything Pyro had told us about them. But no…it didn't seem probable. It was more likely that they would have brought him here for interrogation, to try and find out where the rest of us were based. I had been worried by the possibility of Pyro being 'interrogated' by the telepathic Crusader, but Gemini and Mystique had both told me not to worry; Magneto had taught Pyro everything he knew about blocking telepathic intrusions. And Magneto had known a lot about it, apparently.

"I still think we should try downstairs," I said to Vertigo. "Hey, you awake?"

Vertigo was not listening. He looked at Helios, then up at Recyclo. I followed his gaze, wondering what he was looking at. Helios looked up as Recyclo looked down, and their eyes met. I looked at both of them again, comprehension beginning to dawn. No. It couldn't be. Or could it? How could I have failed to realise up until now? But then, I had never seen them together…

"Hello, brother," said Recyclo.